


Seeking for Answers

by SmilesThroughFandoms



Series: It Runs in the Family (AU) [1]
Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Ann is a relative of a former studio worker, Everything you see is a work in progress, Story title from Face Reality by Victor McKnight, also rating and content warning might go up as well, and other 70's stuff, but I wanna pretend I write suspense stuff so I won't tell you here, chapter titles will be based on Bendy fandom songs/lyrics, fair warning, figured I'd post the first chapter and see if anyone is interested, i've had this story in the works since January, idk what i'm doing but here we go, mentions to Queen, so some stuff might change before i publish other chapters, tags to be taken down and added as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-26
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2020-05-20 00:01:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19366276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmilesThroughFandoms/pseuds/SmilesThroughFandoms
Summary: Ann had simply wanted answers. That's all she wanted. She thought that maybe by coming to Joey Drew Studios (long since closed) she could get them. She was not expecting to be hunted down by an Ink Demon bent on her very death.Now, Ann just wants to get out of the studio...





	Seeking for Answers

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter title inspired by Bendy and the Ink Machine Song by Kyle Allen Music.

Stepping into the studio, Ann realized that sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. The entrance alone was dusty, ceiling boards dangled precariously above her head, and the Bendy posters that lined the hall were faded. The young woman glanced out the entrance door. The first rays of dawn were shining over the horizon. Ann took a steadying breath and then stepped into the studio, the floor beneath her creaking loudly.

“Get in, get your answers, and get out.” Ann told herself, pulling the fleece jacket she wore tighter around herself. “Simple, right?”

Again, the floor creaked loudly, enough to make Ann nervous. Hell, the whole atmosphere of the old studio was enough to make her anxious.

Joey Drew Studios, once a hot spot for the animation industry, was now a crumbling, ramshackle building with graffiti on the outside walls and boarded up windows. As Ann walked down the hallway, she couldn’t help but wonder what this place looked like back in it’s heyday, fifty something years ago. Maybe bustling with the day-to-day hassle of making cartoons? Maybe filled with noise like the animation studio she worked at?

Didn’t matter now. Place was dead quiet and that did nothing for Ann’s already nervous demeanor. She glanced towards the door again. _Probably won’t kill me to leave that door open_ , she thought. Setting off down one hallway, Ann called out “Hello? Is anybody here?” Her voice echoed across the halls.

_Clang_

Ann stopped, glancing around. “Is someone there?” Nothing. Silence again. Ann fiddled with the locket around her neck and pressed on. “That was weird…”

She had been in the studio once before, a long time ago, when she was still a little kid. But, back then, she wasn’t alone. No, who would let a little girl roam Joey Drew Studios? The old, abandoned, probably haunted studio, the epicenter of playground horror stories. Back then, she had Toby and Daisy and Kelley with her… guarding her…. protecting her… what she wouldn’t give for one of them, any of them—heck even Kelley—to be there with her now.

But, no. Ann was alone. Because that’s how it had to be done, right?

For whatever reason, that didn’t feel entirely right.

Still, back when the old gang explored the old studio for shits and giggles ( _“C’mon, Franks,” Kelley waggled his bushy brows, “what’s the worst that could happen?”_ ) they had actually explored a good portion of this area before they left. Nothing looked like it had changed—Ann wasn’t expecting any change—so it shouldn’t be that hard to find… “What am I even looking for really?” Ann asked herself. “A clue?”

She came upon an old desk, covered with a heavy layer of dust, but otherwise seemingly untouched by time. Ann smiled at the little drawing of Bendy’s face on the desk, though it looked a bit off-model. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one to think so, as there was a note with _‘NO’_ written on it. Above this doodle lay another sheet of paper, with what looked to be character models for Bendy the Dancing Demon.

“Oh, cool!” Ann smiled, grabbing the sheet off the desk. Upon further inspection, the letters _HS_ was written on the bottom left corner. Ann frowned, setting the sheet back on the desk. “Focus, Ann, remember what you’re here for.” Ann turned and saw another room full of desks and old cels. Nothing looked to important, so she made her way back, heading back to the workroom near the entrance of the old studio and heading down the other hallway.

She passed by many doors, one leading to a sort of downstairs pub that Ann assumed functioned as the break room. Turning down an adjacent hallway, she found another desk not too far from a Bendy cutout. Ann looked around and spotted am old cassette player. “Wait, did they even have cassettes in the 1930s?”

Ann picked up the cassette tape and wiped some of the dust away. A piece of faded tape near the top of the player read _Voice of Wally Franks_. “Huh, I forgot that he used to work here.” Ann’s curiosity peaked, she turned the cassette player this way and that. “Does this thing still work?” She pressed a couple of buttons, only to receive clicking noises, until she found what she assumed was the play button.

_“At this point, I don’t get what Joey’s plan is for this company.”_ The voice of Wally, though slightly distorted due to the old tape, and younger sounding, came through the speakers. Ann smiled as the tape continued. _“The animations sure aren't being finished on time anymore, and I certainly don't see why we need this...machine. It's noisy, it's messy, and who needs that much ink anyway?”_

“Ink?”

_Clang clang clang clang_

Ann spun around, startled. The old tape now nothing more than background noise. _What is that? Where’s it coming from?_ There was no one else in the studio—at least, not at the moment. Not with her… Right? There was that phone call though—

**_Clang clang clang clang clang clang_ **

“Who’s there?” Ann called out, sounding much braver than what she felt. The noise, whatever it was, was getting louder, as if it were right above her. “Seriously, who’s there? If you don’t cut that out I’ll—”

“—lo? Hello, can ya hear me?”

_Huh?_

It was a small, soft, nearly indiscernible voice, coming from the pipes above Ann’s head.

The young woman glanced up and saw the pipe in question rattling and shaking, as if something was in there trying to get out. Ink spurting out in between screws and metal clamps. “Hello? Joey, is that you?!”

_Joey?_

“No, it’s not Joey…” Ann responded, only to immediately regret it. Why would she respond to someone trapped in a pipe? Better question; how could someone get trapped in a pipe?!

“Then who is it?” The voice asked. Ann contemplated turning around. She contemplated turning around and walking out of the studio. She contemplated walking back to her car and going back to her apartment, Back to her bed, back to Penny, DJ, Goose, Victor, her other friends, her family, back to a normal life…

But… the phone call, the old letter…

“I—I’m Ann.”

“Ann?” The voice sounded disappointed and then ecstatic, and kind of near frantic. “Ann! Ann, you gotta get me outta here!”

“How?”

“You gotta find a wrench! Find a wrench and undo the screws!”

“Where the hell am I supposed to find a wrench?”

“Uh… Does Thomas Connor still work here?”

“Who’s Thomas Connor?”

“Never mind. Look, there should be a wrench around here somewhere! You just gotta find it.”

Ann raised a brow. “Oh, yeah, sure. I know this place like the back of my hand, I totally know where to go to find a wrench.”

“Please!” The voice begged her. “I begging ya here.”

“Ok, ok! Just give me a minute this place is bigger than I remember…” Ann set off down the hallway, checking the rooms she came across for a wrench, of course finding none. She turned a corner and nearly jumped out of her skin when a loose plank of wood fell down from the ceiling. Of course, upon glancing down a hallway, that loose plank was the least of her concerns. Ann screamed.

“What’s happen’?!” The voice called out, barely audible due to the distance.

“What the fuck is this shit?!” Ann gestured to the Toon on the table, knowing full well no one could see her.

On a table in a room down a hallway was a dissected Boris the Wolf. As in, the Boris the Wolf from the old Bendy cartoons Ann watched as a child. A live Boris the Wolf, well maybe not _live_ , lying on a table with X’s for eyes, as if to say that this Boris was long dead. Not a hard-to-believe assumption, considering it’s chest was split open.

Inside it’s chest? A wrench.

“What’s going on out there?” The voice called out. “Ann, did ya find a wrench?”

Ann wrinkled her nose. “Uh… y-yeah! Just, hold on a second…” The voice called something out in response, but Ann couldn’t hear it. Instead, she focused on her breathing, trying to maintain her cool. _Just like how Uncle Chuck taught you_ , she thought, _just take one moment to find yourself, then keep going_.

Upon entering the room, Ann noticed that, despite the lit candles, this room had been seemingly abandoned for a long while. Apart from the Jack-O-Boris in the center of the room, the only proof that anyone had ever entered here was the phrase _‘Who’s Laughing Now?’_ scrawled out in ink on the wall. The young woman had a feeling that this Boris was not going to be laughing anytime soon, and she certainly wouldn’t be joining in.

The wrench seemed to shimmer in the candlelight, almost taunting Ann. Taking a deep breath, Ann reached over and plucked the wrench from Boris’s chest, gagging at the wet, sticky sound it made as she did.

“I got the wrench!” Ann called as she made her way round the corner towards the pipe.

“Great! Now ya just gotta get me out.” Ann wrinkled her brow. Suddenly aware of a problem. She was short. The pipe was far above her head, and thus, out of her reach. Scratching her head, Ann glanced around. Giving a small “A-ha!” upon spotting a chair near Wally’s old tape. It looked old and rickety, but it would have to do.

“Just a second…” Ann pulled the chair underneath the pipe. The screws were old and rusty and covered in dry ink. Yet, somehow, they were rather easy to undo. If not just a bit stubborn. “Just… a… second…” The final screw came loose, and a spray of ink shot out directly into Ann’s face. Not ready for this, the dark-haired woman stumbled back, falling flat on her butt, and hitting her back on the table that held Wally’s tape on her way down. The wrench flew out of her hand on her way down it clattered to floor in the corner of the hall.

Rubbing the ink away from her eyes, Ann watched in curiosity and horror when a large lump of pulsating ink plopped down onto the chair in front of her. The blob of ink shifted and groaned and pulsated when all of a sudden…

… Bendy was in front of her.

There was really no other way of putting it.

Bendy. Bendy the Dancing Demon, Bendy the Little Devil Darling, Bendy the mascot of Joey Drew Studios… was standing right in front of her.

Ann wanted to scream. Her mouth was already hung open so it wouldn’t be hard for the sound to get out… yet nothing. She was absolutely stunned by this turn of events.

“Whoo!” Bendy sighed, stretching his little arms. “Man, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen these bad boys!” Bendy wiggled his gloved covered fingers. The little cartoon devil looked at Ann and turned his classic grin towards her, extending a hand. “Thanks a lot! You really helped me out of a tight spot there.”

_I have to be dreaming._ Ann thought, staring dumbly at the proffered hand. _There is no other explanation expect that I’m dreaming…_

Bendy’s grin faltered slightly. “Uh… y’know how a handshake works, right?”

She didn’t recall Bendy ever having a voice in the old cartoons she used to watch with her grandparents, but of all the voices she expected the little devil to have, this soft, calm voice wasn’t it. Maybe it was her own personal bias talking, but she always pictured that if Bendy were to have a voice, it sound like a little boy from Brooklyn. Like how Cuphead spoke in some of the older cartoons!

“Um, doll? You ok?” Bendy asked.

Ann shook her head. _Just take a moment, just take a moment, just take a moment…_ “Yeah, sorry!” Ann nervously extended her hand and shook the cartoon devil’s. It was cold and kind of wet to the touch, but really what do you expect with something that just came out of an ink pipe. Now that she thought about it… “How did you get into the ink pipe?”

Bendy glanced up and stared at the ink pipe, still shaking her hand. “I… Huh, I got no idea…”

“Also, follow up question: How is this possible?”

“How’s what possible?” Bendy asked, as if he really didn’t know.

Ann narrowed her eyes at him. “You… You’re a cartoon.”

“Sure am!” Bendy replied proudly.

“But… you’re alive…”

“Yeah…”

“As in… you exist… the same way I exist…” Ann’s arm now hung limply in Bendy’s grip, the little toon devil still not seeming to catch her drift.

Bendy frowned at her. “Yeah, what’s your point?”

Ann pulled her arm back, pushing herself off the ground as she did so. “And I’m outta here…”

“Hey, wait! Where’re ya going?” Bendy called after her as she headed towards the exit.

“I need some fresh air or something.” Ann told him, running a hand through her dark curls. “Because whatever toxin is running through this old dump is obviously affecting me…”

“What’re ya talking about, toots?” Bendy shrugged. “There’s nothing… affecting… you…” Bendy trailed off and Ann glanced behind her, thinking maybe the obvious (it had to be obvious, it just had to be) figment of her imagination was finally gone.

Nope.

The little toon had just stopped following right behind her. Stopping in front of the old desk she saw earlier, Bendy stood, transfixed on the old thing. Ann blinked. “Uh… Bendy?” The cartoon slowly approached the desk, a frown on his face. “Are… are you ok?” Ann called out. When she got no response, the woman saw that the little toon was standing just behind the chair, staring up at the desk. “Bendy?”

“I… I remember this desk…”

_Really? How do you know this desk?_

“Well, you’re a cartoon, this is an animation studio, this is a desk where animation was made, I’m going to assume you do…”

For a moment, Bendy stared up at her as if she had just said something wrong. And Ann felt like she had said something wrong. It was like there was this voice inside her head was scolding her for not remembering her line… an odd feeling but it was what she felt like.

“No… I mean that I… I…” Bendy held a hand to his forehead, shaking it slightly.

“Bendy?”

“Something’s wrong.”

“What’d you mean?”

“I mean that…” A peculiar looked crossed Bendy’s face. “Hang on, doll. I need to check on something.” And then he was shoving past her, running deeper into the studio. Ann lingered by the old drawing desk, feeling as though it was important for whatever reason. Then, as if an unseen force was pushing her in that direction, she started to follow Bendy.

“Wait! Bendy, where are you going?” Ann called out after the little cartoon devil. It was rather hard to keep up with the little guy. He had as much energy as a kindergartner on a sugar high, and he used it to his advantage in this mad dash to… wherever the hell he was going.

He rounded a corner and Ann followed, slowing down when she noticed something called an _Ink Output Schedule_. A quick glance told Ann that on one particular Saturday, the output of Ink was 423 gallons. A big difference from the 103 gallons either earlier that same Saturday or on a different one, and a momentous difference compared to the 24 gallons that were produced on a Tuesday.

Suddenly, Ann found herself agreeing with Wally’s tape. _Who needs that much ink anyway?_

“Jiminy! Where are those darn power cells?” Ann glanced over at the sound of Bendy’s voice. Hoping over the pipe that had a _‘Watch Your Step’_ sign hammered to it, Ann found herself on the balcony of a large room. Glancing down, Ann noticed a large, square hole. The chains connected to the ceiling seemed to plunge into the inky darkness of the square hole.

“What’s down there?” Ann asked Bendy, who was bent over on the floor, rustling around for something. The little devil looked back at her, blinking.

“The ink machine.” He said casually, as if referring to the weather.

“Ink machine?” Ann raised a brow. “What’s that?”

“It’s a machine that produces ink.” Bendy went back to searching. “Duh!”

“Ok, I guessed that. But, like, why have an ink machine in the first place? What purpose does it serve?”

“Oh, that’s easy!” Bendy sent her his trademark grin. “It made me!”

“It _made_ you?” Ann blinked. “How is that even possible?”

Bendy shrugged. “I don’t know the exact details, but I know that Joey put a cel of one of my cartoons in and—”

“Wait, wait, back up. Did you just say Joey? As in, Joey Drew?”

“Yeah! You know him?”

“No, I-I’ve never met him. But I’ve heard stories about him.”

“Good stories?”

“Uh… _stories_.”

“Oh.” Bendy glanced away, noticing how awkward Ann seemed. “Yeah, Joey was the one who built the machine in the first place. Why do you ask?”

“Well, you see a couple weeks ago I…” Ann paused, seeming to realize something. Side-eyeing Bendy and staring down at the hole in the ground. “That’s not important. But, what is important is that talk to Mr. Drew as soon as possible.”

“Oh…” Bendy glanced down at the whole in the ground, an idea coming to his mind. “I could… I could take you to him if you want?”

Ann stared at Bendy, smiling hopefully. “Really?” Then Ann narrowed her green eyes suspiciously. “Really?”

“Yeah, really!” Bendy smirked. “You just gotta help me with something first.”

Ann tugged on one of her dark curl’s nervously. “And if I help you with something… you’ll take me to see Mr. Drew?”

“I’ll do you one better! I’ll bring Joey to you. So,” Bendy held out a gloved hand towards Ann, “do we have a deal?”

Tugging on strands of her hair was always a nervous habit of Ann’s. One that she unconsciously did whenever she was presented with a difficult choice to make. Whether or not to trust Kelley and go into the studio, whether or not to break things off with Sara, and whether or not to trust Bendy right now.

On one hand, this was probably a golden opportunity for her to find her answers. On the other hand, Bendy was made by Joey Drew. Her grandma, her uncles, her aunts, and her parents always told her that Joey Drew a snake of a man.

The old letter that was folded up in her jacket’s pocket suddenly felt like it weighed a ton.

Tentatively, Ann reached out and shook Bendy’s hand. “Deal.”

“Great! Now, first, you gotta help me find the darn power cells for the machine.”

“Ok, what for? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“The machine’s down at the very bottom. We need to bring it up so I can check on it. Make sure nothing’s broken, and all.” Bendy explained. “But to do that, we need the power cells.”

“Power cells…” Ann glanced at the shelf by Bendy. “You mean that battery looking thing one on the shelf above your head?”

Bendy glanced up, chuckling sheepishly. “Heh, guess I probably could’ve looked up.”

Ann reached over the toon’s head, plucking the power cell off the shelf, smiling down at him. “Yes, yes you could’ve.”

As Ann placed the first power cell in, she instructed Bendy to look in and under things to find the next power cell. Sure enough, after another minute of searching, Bendy found the final power cell in a chest pushed closer towards the wall. “Who put that chest here, anyway?”

“No clue.” Bendy said as Ann situated the final power cell into its holder. “Franks probably left it there. That guy was always loosing something…”

Ann raised a brow at Bendy. “You know Wally Franks?”

“He was the janitor here!” Bendy’s grin faltered. “I… I don’t remember meeting him but I… I know I know him!”

“That’s… interesting.”

“Yeah,” Bendy’s smile returned once Ann placed the power cell in, “but enough about that. Let’s flip the switch!”

“Alrighty then!” Ann flipped the switch, and the power turned on. The chains made clanging sounds as something was pulled up from the very bottom of the studio. As the two waited for the Ink Machine, Ann snickered as a thought came to mind. _“Life! Life, do you hear me?! Give my creation LIFE!!!!!”_ Bendy looked at her strangely.

“What are you talking about?”

“I was quoting _Young Frankenstein_.” Bendy still looked completely confused. “Y’know? The movie? Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein?”

“I’ve never heard of either of those.”

“Really? It came out a few years ago… You should check it out.”

Then it was there.

The Ink Machine.

Bendy gasped in wonder, despite probably having seen the machine before, and Ann could only stare at the large contraption. The machinery, pipes, and gears that made up the bulk of the machine itself looked quite complicated, and reminded her of some of the contraptions her Uncle would sometimes build with the leftover parts form his shop. A giant, metal barrel filled with what looked like old ink was connected to the back of the machine, where pipes seemed to lead to a comically large spout.

“Looks just like the day it was made!” Bendy observed. “Isn’t it wonderful?”

Despite this being the first time she’s ever seen the machine; Ann couldn’t help but be struck by an odd and sudden sense of déjà vu. The dark-haired woman glanced around, confused. Why did all of this seem so familiar? What did it all mean?

_It’s incredible!_

“It’s… something.” Bendy gave her that look again, that look that said that she misspoke, that she said the wrong thing. The little cartoon devil shook it off quickly, though, as he noticed something.

“Huh… It’s not pumping ink…”

“Is it supposed to?”

“It’s called the _ink machine_ for a reason, you know.”

“I thought it made cartoons come to life.”

“It does!” Bendy assured her. “By pumping ink out!”

Ann must’ve been giving the devil an odd look, because he held up his hands in a placating manner. “I can explain the details as we go! C’mon, we gotta turn this bad boy on…”

“Why turn it on?”

“So I can see if it’s broken. Obviously…”

“Obviously.” Ann echoed, rolling her eyes. “How do we turn it on?”

“There’s a certain ritual we need to perform. We need a few objects for it.”

“Rituals?” Ann asked, suddenly feeling wary.

“Don’t worry, it’s harmless!” Bendy assured his companion, even though she didn’t seem to believe him. They passed by the tape of Wally Franks, which Ann felt compelled to grab and take with her, and then the Jack-O-Boris room. Bendy took one look in there, frowned, shook his head, and continued walking. Ann knew that Boris and Bendy’s relationship in the old cartoons was never the best (the old wolf had a habit of stealing the little devil’s food), but she was still shocked at the devil’s lack of response to the horrific scene.

Ann’s first impression upon entering what Bendy said was the “Break Room” was that she would never complain about the small breakroom at the studio she worked at ever again. As this room—filled with pedestals in front of pictures of objects, pipes connecting the pedestals to the wall, dirt floors, and a switch at the very back of room—made her break room look like the Plaza Hotel.

“This is one messed up studio.” Ann stated.

“It has its flaws…” Bendy agreed. “But, this place serves as a reminder of everyone working together!” Ann raised a brow and Bendy gestured towards the audio log she held in her hands. Shrugging, Ann pressed play again. The woman barely paid any mind to the first half, already having heard that, but then came mention of the break room.

_“Also, get this: Joey had each one of us "donate" something from our workstations. We put them on these little pedestals in the break room. ‘To help appease the gods’, Joey says. ‘Keep things going’.”_ Wally’s voice came from the tape. Ann frowned in confusion. Appease the Gods? What the hell did that mean? _“I think he's lost his mind, but, hey, he writes the checks. But I tell you what, if one more of these pipes burst, I'm outta here.”_ The tape clicked off and Ann had to chuckle. “Yeah, that sounds like Wally, alright…”

“You knew him too?”

“Yeah. He’s a really good family friend.” Ann smiled wistfully. “Practically an Uncle…”

“Oh, wow!” Bendy glanced around excitedly. “Is he here?”

“No. He, uh… He doesn’t know I’m here…” Ann chuckled sheepishly.

Bendy chuckled, giving the young woman a knowing smirk. “Breaking a few rules, are we?”

“Well, he probably wouldn’t like me being here, that’s for sure.”

“Why not?”

“Too many bad memories associated with the place, I suppose.”

Bendy gave her a curious look. “So, if that’s the case, why are you here? Why do you wanna see Joey so much?”

The letter in her pocket was starting to feel awfully heavier now. “I, uh, I got a phone call.” Before Bendy could press further, Ann smiled at him. “So, what’s this I hear about a break room and ‘Appeasing the Gods’?”

Bendy smiled and gestured widely with his little arms. “Right this way, madame! Step right up!” Ann couldn’t help but giggle. Strange as this little devil was, he was just as adorable as his cartoons.

As Bendy took an interested in the switch at the back of the room, Ann noticed the two large pipes jutting out of the wall near the switch and something told her that they were connected to the ink machine in the other room. Ann also noticed the pedestals in the room. There were six total, and each one had a picture behind it. One with a picture of a record, one with a picture of a book. Then there was a record, a gear, a wrench, and, finally, a Bendy doll.

That image brought back memories. Stormy nights with her Bendy and friends plushies snuggled under her arms, Shawn fixing the doll up after Hank and Heather ripped them, and giving the dolls to Bobbi in the same way Toby had given them to her so long ago.

 “So… you gonna flip the switch or do you need a boost?” Bendy turned around and narrowed his eyes at her.

“I’m not that short.”

“I’ve met toddlers taller than you.”

“Besides, we can’t turn it on yet.” Bendy explained. “We need to get the items first!”

“Items?” Ann looked around. “You mean these knick-knacks?”

“Exactly!” Bendy smiled, holding out his hand. “And you already grabbed one of them.”

“I did?”

“Of course! The wrench. You used it to free me from the pipes, remember?”

“Oh yeah! But I dropped it when you came… out of the…” Ann started to say sheepishly, placing a hand on her hip, only to suddenly feel something sticking out of the back-pocket of her jean shorts. Reaching behind her, Ann pulled out the wrench. “… um?”

“There it is!” Bendy made the “gimme” motion with his hand and Ann handed over the wrench, dumbstruck. “Guess ya put it in your pocket and just forgot.”

“I, uh, yeah, I guess so…” _How though? The damn thing flew out of my hand._ Ann watched in confusion as Bendy went over and placed the wrench on the appropriate pedestal. The little cartoon devil having to stand on his tip-toes just to reach it. The light above the pedestal seemed to cast a holy light onto the wrench once Bendy put it in place.

Ann still couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Well, ok, she was taking instructions from an animated (ha), living version of one of the most famous cartoon characters from the 1930s. There were bound to be a few things wrong in that statement alone. But there was something else. From the odd feelings to the feeling she said something wrong to the wrench that somehow ended up in her back pocket, something was going on here.

Ann wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out or not.

“Alrighty! There’s one item.” Bendy said, dusting his hands off. “Now to find the other five.”

“Where are they?” Ann asked, still wary from finding an item in her pocket that really shouldn’t have been there. “I’ll go grab them.”

“They’re… uh. I dunno.” Bendy shrugged.

“What’d you mean you don’t know?”

“I was in that pipe for a long time, Ann!” Bendy said, walking out of the room. “Look, it won’t be hard to find them. We just have to look around a bit.”

Ann glared at the back of the toon’s head. “Ok, slow down, buckaroo.” Ann reached over and grabbed Bendy’s head, spinning him around to face her. Really, the whole scene looked like it belonged in an old cartoon. “You said you would take me to see Joey Drew. This isn’t taking me to see him.”

Bendy moved out of Ann’s reach. “No, I said I would bring Joey to you, _after_ you helped me with something. Well, turning on the ink machine is that something. So, the quicker it’s on, the quicker you can see Joey.”

The little cartoon devil smiled smugly at her as he walked away. Ann huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine. But if you don’t keep your promise I’ll… I’ll…”

“You’ll what?” Bendy asked smugly. Ann couldn’t think of an answer, Bendy giggled. “I thought so.”

And so, Bendy led Ann on an impromptu, and incredibly tiresome, scavenger hunt across the studio. They opened all the doors they could (that led to a fun little discovery on Ann’s part; a light had been behind a closed door so she went to open, found it locked, and the light shut off. There were light scuffling sounds behind the door, as if whoever was in there was worried they would be caught) and checked under every nook and cranny.

Finally, after some work, they found the Gear in the ink machine room, in the same chest they had found a battery, the record had been in a closet-sized office space (Ann had a feeling it used to be an actual closet) littered with sheet music, the Bendy doll had been found in a projector room, casually sitting on a chair, and then they found the book on a table in the downstairs pub area. “This place became the new breakroom after Joey commandeered the old one.” Bendy explained.

“This rooms seems bigger.” Ann noted.

“Yeah, but the stairs were kinda hard to climb up and down all the time.”

“I take it you came to the break room often.”

“No, not really.”

Ann raised a brow. “Then how do you know the stairs were hard to climb?”

“Because I…” The little toon trailed off, seemingly trying to find the right words. His face lit up. “Oh! That’s right! Joey didn’t like other people seeing me.”

“What? Why?”

Bendy glanced down at the floor frowning. “He… He said I was an abomination…”

“You… I mean, it’s a little strange seeing you here but, I think “abomination” is pretty harsh.”

“Joey said I would scare everyone away… He only let a few people even look at me…”

Something about the little toon devil’s demeanor, the way he held himself as he repeated what was obviously a horrible memory for him, awakened what Ann liked to call her _Protective Older Sister Mode™_. Crouching down to his level, Ann placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, the little devil looked up at her. “For what it’s worth, you’re the furthest thing from an abomination I’ve ever seen.”

Bendy gave her a small smile. “Really?”

“Heck yeah! On a scale of one to ten, you’re like a solid three and a half.” Bendy laughed.

“You’re just saying that.”

“No, it’s true! Compared to the way my friend Goose eats on Thanksgiving, you’re the most normal thing existence.”

Another laugh from the little devil. “Thanks, Ann.”

“Not a problem, Bendy.” Ann walked over and grabbed a book entitled _The Illusion of Living_ from a nearby table. “Huh, I didn’t know Joey Drew wrote a book.”

“I’m not surprised, it wasn’t a very popular sell.” Bendy chuckled. “I think he sold a few hundred copies, but a lot of them were returned anyway.”

“I can’t imagine why… oh, wow.” Ann’s eyes widened in disbelief and mild horror. Mixed with self-praises that would make Narcissus go “Dude, chill” were blatant occult images and instructions that, while incredibly vague and off-putting, mentioned the word sacrifice a few to many times for a normal being’s comfort. “Never mind, I figured out why.”

“C’mon!” Bendy called out from the base of the stairs. “We just have to find one more item.” Ann glanced up at the devil as he hopped up the steps, and then back down at the book in her hand. She reached into her pocket and fingered the folded up card within. _I came to get answers_ , Ann thought, _but I never really considered how many questions I would wind up asking._

It took a bit more wandering around then either of the two would like to admit ( _What, did Drew design this place to be like a labyrinth?_ ), but eventually the two found their way over to the actual animation portion of the studio. “I think the last item is somewhere around here.” Bendy said. “I can never remember where exactly, however…”

“What’s the last item?”

“A bottle of ink. It’s hard to see, though. Really small.” Bendy explained as he peered under a table that had an old cel on it.

“How small we talking here?”

Bendy paused and thought for a moment before turning to Ann. “No bigger than the palm of my hand.”

Ann nodded and followed Bendy into the room to look. He took the east side of the room, she the west. Ann noticed that the bathroom was sealed off by planks of woods, but reasoned that a small ink bottle probably wouldn’t be in there to begin with, so it wasn’t her concern. After a while, a thought occurred to her. “So, why these items specifically?”

“Huh?”

“Why do we have to collect these six items in particular? What do they have with… whatever the ink machine does?”

“Oh, it’s because they serve a connection to the most important people in the studio.”

“Buh?”

Bendy chuckled good-naturedly. “That book you’re holding; it was written by Joey Drew. He founded the place, so that’s a good item to have. The record was made by the head of the music department, and the doll was created by the head-man in the toy department—”

“You have a toy department in here?” Ann asked, focusing on the important aspects, obviously.

“—and the gear is for our head handy-man, Thomas Connor!” Bendy smiled. “And that wrench belonged to Wally back in the day.”

“Oh, wow! That’s actually kind of inter… wait, you said these items were connected to important people in the studio. Wasn’t Wally a janitor here?”

“Hey, I don’t make the rules, toots.”

“Right, right. So, who’s the ink bottle connected to?”

“Henry Stein.”

Ann frowned. “Henry… Stein?”

“Yeah. He used to be the head animator before he—”

“I know! I know who Henry is…” Ann interrupted; mood suddenly sour. “I didn’t realize he would participate in this kind of thing…”

“Oh, he never knew this was happening. He left before Joey installed the ink machine.” That statement seemed to cheer Ann up, just a little bit, but Bendy noticed she seemed kind of upset.

Ann blinked. “Wait, the ink bottle is connected to Henry, so maybe it’s on his old desk?”

“Hey, good thinking. Now, if only I could remember which one it was…”

Ann thought back to the _HS_ scribbled onto the Bendy model-sheet she found upon entering the studio. The dark-haired woman glanced out of the animation department into the hall. Or, should we say, at the lone animation desk that sat outside the animation department. Following a hunch, Ann walked over to the aforementioned desk. After seeing nothing on the desk itself, she knelt down and beamed. “I found it!”

“Really?” Bendy called and ran over to meet her at the desk. The young woman held the ink bottle in her hand triumphantly. “Alright! Now we all have to do is set these bad boys up and then we can turn on the machine.”

“And then you’ll bring me to Joey Drew?”

“I’ll bring him to you.” Bendy smirked back at her as he led the way back to the break room.

After setting the other five offerings on the pedestals (Ann was ignoring how cult-y that last bit sounded), Bendy turned around to flip the switch, only to pause. Stroking his chin, the little devil hummed thoughtfully. “Something isn’t right here…”

“What do you mean?”

“That indicator by the switch says ‘Low Pressure’ but everything should be—oh. Oh, right, yeah. I forgot. We need to get the ink flowing.”

“How do we do that? The ink machine is turned off!” Ann sighed, frustrated.

“There should be a pressure valve around here somewhere.” Bend told her, already dashing out of the room. “We just have to find it.”

Ann groaned and reluctantly followed the little devil. “Y’know, when I came here against my better judgement, I wasn’t really expecting to be led on an occult-based scavenger hunt by a cartoon character from the 1930’s! I mean, I don’t know what I was expecting, but it sure as hell wasn’t—Gah!” Ann screamed and took a couple steps back.

“You ok?” Bendy called back.

In front of her, a cardboard cutout of Bendy stood facing her, propped up by a couple pieces of wood. _That wasn’t there before_ , Ann thought, placing a hand to her chest to calm her beating heart. “Did you put this cutout here?”

“What cutout?”

“The one outside the breakroom!” Bendy rounded the corner and his eyes widened in surprise at the Bendy cutout before him. “That… wasn’t there when I left the room.”

“So, what, it just moved on its own?”

Bendy shrugged. “You have to admit, it’s not the weirdest thing that you’ve seen so far.” The little devil gestured to himself before motioning for Ann to follow him. Ann would have liked very much to be comforted by this fact, but considering the only other reasonable explanations for the sudden cutout appearances were either A: somebody moved the cutout here or B: the cutout moved itself, it wasn’t exactly comforting as much as it was chilling.

Bendy led Ann down the maze-like hallways, past the area where she let Bendy out of the pipe to start with, and into a little mini-theater room. A large projector was set up facing a screen with a few chairs placed in rows in front. “Joey showed the investors and some of the staff the finished cartoons here.” Bendy explained.

“That must have been a fun break from the norm for the employees.”

“Uh, Joey stopped letting them come after a while. Too much work to be done, y’know?” Ann frowned but hummed thoughtfully. Despite the stories her family told her of Joey seeming extremely biased at the time, Ann was starting to realize they may have been right all along. “Here we go!” Bendy pointed at a switch located in the back corner of the room.

As Ann stepped further into the room to see what Bendy was pointing at, the projector clicked on and a looping animation of Bendy shown on the screen. Seemingly from nowhere, the ever infamous Bendy theme song whistled into the air. Chill ran up Ann’s spine as she cast a look at Bendy, who seemed just as surprised by sudden events as she was.

Ann saw Bendy reaching for a valve under a sign labeled _INK PRESSURE_. However, the little devil was just too short to reach it. Wanting to get out of that room as quick as she could, Ann walked over and turned the valve with only a little grunt of effort.

The sudden splash of ink onto the floor form the pipes above elicited a startle cry from both Ann and Bendy. The ink seemed to be gushing out of the pipe pretty quickly, and Ann noticed the puddle of ink seemed to grow larger and larger with each passing second. “Let’s get out of here before this room floods.”

“Good idea.” The two quickly ducked under the inky waterfall and ran out of the room. Bendy smiled back at her. “I’m pretty sure we can turn on the machine.”

“I hope so. I’m getting tired of this creepy scavenger hunt…” Ann sighed. Bendy waltzed into the break room, clapping his hand happily upon seeing that the indicator now read ‘Ready’. Bendy reached over and flipped the switch and then—

Everything went dark.

Ann glanced around, suddenly nervous. All the “offerings” were missing from the pedestals and the pipes above her head were moving and groaning with great effort. Apart from that, everything was practically silent.

Suffice to say, the heebie-jeebies factor just increased from a six to a fifteen.

“Alright, we’re all set!” Bendy turned to Ann. “Thanks again for the help! Now, about Joey…”

As the little devil hummed thoughtfully, Ann smiled nervously. “You’ll bring him to me right?”

“A deal’s a deal!” Bendy nodded his head. “Tell you what. Go back to the ink machine room, and I’ll meet you back there with Joey.”

“Um…” Ann glanced around the room. The chilling darkness, the eerie quite, and the unsettling feeling that something was _off_ made Ann reluctant to be left alone. “Are you sure. I mean, maybe I should come with you?”

“Nonsense, you go on ahead.” Bendy said, pushing her out of the room and in the direction of the ink machine room. “I’ll get Joey and we’ll meet you by the ink machine in a few minutes.” Bendy waved a cheerful goodbye and set out in the opposite direction. Not really having much of a choice, Ann begrudgingly walked towards the ink machine room. Every minor creak of the floorboards below her not helping settle her nerves.

When she finally approached the ink machine room, she stopped around the corner and noticed a large puddle of ink just outside the doorway. Glancing down, Ann saw the pipe had to hop over was still intact.

**_"̵̢̨̠͖̭͈̖̟͎̲͓̱͈̹̒̇̔̓͌̅̑̕͝A̸̢̨̢͕͙͉̱̣͇̫̩͖͇͐̀̑̃͋͂̾̇̔̏͝ͅṇ̵̛̮̻̪̈́͛̆̏̒̈́͘͘͝ͅn̵̼̮̟̪̙̗̙̗̝͓̍͂͌͋̓͛̕ͅ,̴̧̡̳̻͔̥̲̻͙͙̦̰̫͂͊͋͑ͅ ̴̜̙̤̪̖͈͓̜̓̐̽̂̒̉̚̕͠h̵̢̡̨̤̰͓͉̩̘̤͎̓õ̴̰̻͍͖̥̟̺̻̎̾n̶̦̦̘̭̹̥̬̜̣͖̱̩̆͋̏͌̀͛͌̽̿ͅĕ̴̛̙̳̤̤̘̦̗͚͔̗͔͉̺͙̗̅͋̎͊͋̈́̆̃͘͝y̵͔̪̟̘̌̑̎,̶̮̾̃͌͛̒͜͝ ̸̫̤͇̜̟͌l̴̮̜̙̾̑̄̽ͅĕ̵̩̌̒̉̚̕ą̴̪̖̣̦͍͕̘̳̦̰͆̂͜ͅͅv̷͈̗̤̠͆̈͗̈̿̑͑̋͌͠ȩ̶͎̱͈̠̰͕̮̯̠̲̳̚͜!̵̲̫͖̐̈́̒̏ͅ ̶̢͇̋̊̃̈̓͑̄̐̆͝N̸̨̢͎̟̹̳͉̳͕͕̻͍̲͎̿̈́̅̇̏̉͂̍͘ơ̷̡̛͓͚̘͇̤͓̙̙͚̩͔͈̒͑̇͊̋͌̏͌̿͂̚͜͜w̶̢̡̛͉̗̘̪̬͕̙̖̠̉̈́̿̉͛̿͊̇̂̑͘!̸͙͋̄͋̆̓̾"̸̘͇͔̣̪̳̓͝_ **

_“How—How are you here? You died!”_

**_"̸̛̼̲̼̱̻̺̩̤͇͍̝͈̅̑̅̆̋͝G̴̡̨̨͙͇͕͚̲̲̾͌̈́̔͗̃̾̃o̷͚̱̫̦͙̳̗͐̉̈́̊̅͐!̸̧̡͍̳̤͕̟̗̳̦̘̣͙̓̈́̌͂̎͊͘ ̸̪̜̗͈̰͕̘͐Ŗ̶̱͎̖̜̗͖͍̙̬̱͚̦̠̿̕ȕ̴̧̡̨͉͖̗̼̹͉̘̱̃͐͊n̵̟̻͎̟̭̟̳̳̩̘̻̮̂̀̆̈́͋̽̍̽̒!̵͖̇̒̈̕"̷̡͍̞̩͖̿̇͑́͊͊̈̉͒͝_ **

_“I don’t understand… You-You were, and Grandma said that—”_

**_̵͖̩̮͚̱͎͇̀̓͌͛͛͂̄"̸̧̲̭̙̳͎̗̓̑̏̐̽Ǵ̶̡̡͕̠̩̘̭̝̣̖̥̻̓͑͠ͅé̸͔̳̗͖̘͚̘̣̖͙̥͈̆͐̄̆̄̕̕t̷̢͚̜̠̯͍͓̝͕͗͌̋̓̏ ̷̖̖͙̠̀̔̂͊͋͂͂͜͠o̶̖͂͗̍̒̂̑̒́̂͝u̵͍͖̳͕͕̣͚͙̺̞̇̿͊͑͛̽͐̊͌̆̕͜ţ̶̛͇̳̆̑͂̊̀̇̓̎̋̈̑̚͘͝!̸̞͓̤͙̫̦̦̝̄̋̾̚ͅ"̵̼̰̖̩͉̼̳̎̐͊̈́̀͒͘_ **

Shaking off the feeling of déjà vu, Ann pressed on, but stopped quickly just as she started. “What the…?” Someone had placed, and hammered, boards of wood haphazardly across the doorway to the ink machine room. “Hey, Bendy!” Ann called back. “Did you board up the room?” No response. Ann didn’t know why she was expecting one.

Through the cracks in the boards, Ann saw that the Ink Machine was running, and running very well, apparently. As the ink it produced seemed to coat the entire room, wall to wall. That’s when she saw what looked like something move behind the boards.

Narrowing her eyes, Ann took a cautious step forward. It could be her eyes playing tricks on her. It was very dark, and it would be challenging to make sense of anything in an even darker room. There was a loud, wet, slapping sound behind the boards and Ann stopped.

“Bendy? Seriously, buddy, what’s going on here?!”

Again, no response.

_Should I wait for them here_? Ann wondered. _How long would it take Bendy to find Joey and bring him… wait, is Joey even still alive? I mean, he kind of went off-grid so no one really knows, but still, maybe he’s…_

With those intrusive thoughts plaguing her, and the atmosphere of the studio looking like something out of a particularly dark Hitchcock story, Ann glanced back at the boarded up doorway and saw something moving just beyond where she could see it. Taking another small, hesitant step forward, Ann leaned over to try and see what was behind the boards. Then she took another, then another, and then another and so on until she was a breath away from the boards.

That’s when a horrible, ugly monster drenched in ink reached out from behind the boards to try and grab her. Screaming, Ann jumped backed and fell flat on her butt once again. Glancing up, she saw that the monster in front of her bore some resemblance to Bendy. Namely in the shape of the head, his inky black features, and the wide grin it wore.

But that was where the similarities ended. This creature was tall, gangly, and seemed to be made of nothing but inky skin and bones. The hand reaching toward her as dark as the rest of his inky body, but the other hand using the boards as support looked similar to one of cartoon Bendy’s gloves.

The monster reached toward her again. Ann shuffled away from the monster; breath caught in her throat. The monster made a few more futile swipes at her as she watched, frozen in horror, at what was before her. Then it leaned forward, trying a new strategy, but Ann was still to far out of its reach.

_Creak!_ Ann glanced at the boards, suddenly the only thing keeping this thing from reaching her, and saw that one of the boards was starting to crack with the sudden weight of this monster leaning on it.

_Run_

Ann scrambled to her feet, leaped over the pipe on the floor, and ran as fast as she could. As she ran, Ann noticed she was no longer running on hardwood floors, but instead sloshing through a never-ending puddle of ink. Inky tendrils stretched on the walls around her, seeming to stretch out as if to grab her.

After nearly slamming into a wall with the little devil’s poster on it, Ann suddenly remembered she wasn’t the only one in the studio with that monster. “Bendy!” She called out. “Bendy, where are you?”

Glancing behind her, Ann saw the shadow of the monster peeking around the corner of the hallway behind her and bolted once again. Trying to put as much distance between it and her as she could. But she just couldn’t leave Bendy to fend for himself against that thing. What if it came after him to? What would it do to him?

“Bendy! Where are you? We need to leave, now!” Ann shouted as she continued to run. Momentarily slowing down to check the rooms around her, only to find that either a metal gate had closed them off to her or that doors were locked. Eventually, Ann was forced to run until she spotted it.

The exit!

The door still cracked ajar from when Ann first entered the studio. Ann spun on her heels. Scared out of her mind at the monster hot on her trail and worried over the fact that she didn’t know where Bendy was. “Bendy! Bendy, where are you? Bendy!”

The monster rounded the corner and Ann backed away. It followed, it’s progress hindered slightly by one of it’s feet, which Ann noted was turned completely around. Ann backed up slowly away from the monster. Green-eyes constantly flickering over the monster’s shoulder to see if she could spot her little friend.

But nothing.

The monster came closer and closer to her as Ann had no choice but to back closer and closer towards the exit. Ann didn’t want to leave her friend behind, but it was starting to seem she had no choice but to do so. The monster, at the end of the entrance hall now, once again reached toward her. Feeling regret over having to abandon her new friend, Ann turned on heel and lunged for the exit.

That’s when the floor underneath her gave her away. Sending Ann falling down several floors, knocking and bumping just about every single limb she had on the way down, until she landed with a hard _Thud!_ on solid ground. A stream of ink leaking down above her. Groaning and pain and coughing the ink that she accidentally swallowed, Ann rolled out from under the inky waterfall above her head.

She stared at the hole above her head for a while, making sure the monster didn’t somehow follow her down here. Then, she flexed her limbs and such to make sure nothing was broken. Then, after a laughably long time, noticed that she was all put swimming in a pool of ink. The stuff was up to her knees at this point.

On the wall beside her, a valve seemed to glow in the dim lighting. Reaching over and giving it a turn, she found that the ink started to drain. Had she been curious about this little factor at all, Ann might have wondered how this was possible. But that wasn’t her main concern right now. Not even close.

Her three pressing concerns were, as follows; What was that thing that chased me? Where’s Bendy? How do I get outta here?

After the ink drained, Ann noticed a doorway leading to a set of stairs. Upon further investigation Ann noticed that the stairwell was flooded with ink. But considering she didn’t have any real options, Ann figured she might as well press onwards and upwards (or, maybe downwards in this case) and see if she could find an exit.

The ink was deeper the further Ann went down. Past her knees, past her hips, and too the point where she might as well have been swimming in it. ON her way down, she passed a shelf with another valve next to it. After turning the valve and letting the ink sink down again, Ann noticed another cassette player on the shelf. This time with an old label that read _‘Voice of Thomas Connor’_ on it. “Thomas Connor, Bendy said he used to work here, didn’t he?” Ann clicked the play button on the tape.

_“It's dark and it's cold and it's stuck in behind every single wall now. In some places, I swear this godforsaken ink is clear up to my knees!”_ The voice of Thomas Connor was apparently deep, gruff, and coarser than a smoker’s on his deathbed. Ann couldn’t help but smirk a bit, finding some comfort in the fact that she wasn’t alone in thinking the amount of ink was utterly ridiculous. _“Who ever thought that these crummy pipes could hold up under this kind of strain either knows something about pressure I don't, or he's some kind of idiot. But the real worst part about all this.. are them noises the system makes. Like a dying dog on its last legs.”_ Ann frowned at this. Dying dog sounds? _“Make no mistake, this place... this... machine... heck, this whole darn thing... it just isn't natural. You can bet, I won't be doing any more repair jobs for Mister Joey Drew.”_ The cassette clicked off and Ann simply stared at the tape, not knowing what to make of this new information.

“Apparently, Mr. Drew, you had a habit of making friends…” Ann rolled her eyes, still digesting the information Thomas Connor left behind in this tape.

After finding another stairwell flooded with ink and subsequently draining it, Ann was led to a room with no real special features. The only thing she found of interest in there was a boarded up door and a dusty old axe sitting on a table nearby. Glancing at the door and then back at the axe, Ann reached over and picked it up. Not to heavy, but still with the potential to pack a mean swing, if you knew how to use it right. And even though it was a right-handed axe, Ann figured she could make it work.

Giving it a couple of test swings, she smiled and then walked over to the door, chopping the wooden planks away and opening the door in the process. “How convenient that someone left this lying around…”

Opening the door, Ann stepped into the subsequent hallway and, after more wood chopping, found herself in a strange room. Candles were placed in a circle on the floor, a few coffins were scattered around the room, and there was a pentagram in the center of the room.

“Ok, the occult bullshit in Mr. Drew’s book just started making a lot more sense…” Ann mumbled, cautiously stepping into the room. The room itself had an eerie vibe in here, and although Ann was rather skeptical on the existence of ghosts in general, she felt a presence in the room. As if one or more of something were still lingering in the room.

As Ann stepped further into the room, she suddenly felt very dizzy. Dots swam across her vision and she stumbled as she walked. Finally, after a few woozy moments, Ann stumbled into the pentagram. Crying out in pain and fear as she crumbled to her knees.

_“I’ll help you in any way I can, my dear, it’s the least I can do…”_

The image of a wheelchair flashed in front of her eyes.

_“You shouldn’t have come here.”_

The image of people standing above her flashed through her mind. Her head was spinning.

_“Now’s the time, Ann. Set us free.”_

The image of the monster that chased her a few minutes ago overtook her sense. With a low, painful groan, Ann’s eyes rolled into the back of her head, the world tilted on its side, and she collapsed to the ground. Unconscious.

The axe clattered to the ground next to her, the metal shining in the candlelight.

* * *

 

_September 4, 1973_

_“~Father, please forgive me! You know you'll never leave me. Please will you direct me in the right way... Liar, liar, liar, liar! Liar! That's what they keep calling me... Liar, liar, liar!~” Ann danced around, putting the finishing touches of her new room in her new apartment._

_While she knew it wouldn’t last (she wouldn’t clean her room on a good day, like she would have the time to do it now that she was in college), Ann felt a sense of pride at how clean and well put together her room was. Her desk (fully stocked with paper, pencils, and other such art supplies) sat comfortably next to a dresser with an alarm clock on one side and a radio on the other. Said radio was currently blasting a song from Ann’s new favorite band, Queen._

_Moonwalking over to her bed, she flopped onto it’s soft, cushiony exterior and glanced up at one of her most prized possessions hanging on the wall above her head, a Bendy in Little Devil Darling poster. A relic taken from an old studio her grandpa used to work at, and stored in the attic of his old house._

_Her grandma, sweet old thing she was, knew how much the Bendy cartoons meant to her. So, as a moving in present, had given it to her. “Your grandpa would have wanted you to have it, dear.” Her grandma said, eyes shining with tears that didn’t match the smile she wore._

_“~ Listen are you gonna listen? Mama, I'm gonna be your slave! All day long... Mama, I'm gonna try behave! All day long... Mama, gonna be your slave! All day long_ _I'm gonna serve you till your dying day! All day long... I'm gonna keep you till you dying day! All day long...~”_

_This was it. Ann was finally an adult. She had her own place, a job at the café a block over, and she was going to animation school. “I’ve totally got this life thing down.”_

_A knock on the door was heard over the music, Ann smiled over at DJ. “Well hey, roomie!”_

_DJ smiled, her chocolate eyes twinkling. “Hey roomie! I love saying that.”_

_“Me too.”_

_“Goose and Vic just called and asked if we wanted to split take out with them.”_

_“Did they order to many eggrolls again?”_

_“No,” DJ laughed, twirling one of her golden curls, “they ordered to many breadsticks.”_

_“Well, hey, I’m not going to turn down free food.” Ann stood up, dusting herself off. “Let me find jacket and we can go meet them.”_

_“It’s on the back of your chair, under the Sheep Songs poster.” DJ pointed out. “Another gift from your grandma?”_

_“She gave me all the ones my grandpa had after he quit.” Ann said shrugging on her jacket._

_“I bet he’s looking down on you from Heaven and bragging to all his angel friends about how his awesome granddaughter just got into animation school.”_

_Ann laughed, flipping the radio off as she joined DJ at the door. “If you say so, Deej.”_

_“I know so.” DJ grinned knowingly. “I can sense it just by reading your aura.”_

_“Uh-huh, ok.” Ann rolled her eyes. “Where did the guys order from? Domino’s, Emilio’s, or that grimy place by the Bodega on fifth?”_

_“Emilio’s. Goose has an employee discount there, remember?”_

_“Oh yeah, I forgot about that. God, I love there bacon-breadsticks.” Ann licked her lips at the thought of said breadsticks as she closed the door to her new room, Some part of her hoping that maybe DJ was right about her grandpa proudly bragging about her in the Great Beyond._


End file.
